A commentary on the case of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, convicted of the murder of 270 people in the Pan Am 103 disaster.

Monday, 17 December 2018

Vital Lockerbie evidence ‘was made AFTER the doomed flight crashed’

[This is part of the headline over a report in today's edition of the Daily Mail. The following are excerpts:]Evidence used in the trial of the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing is unconnected to the case, it has been claimed.A circuit board used in the case against Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi was probably made after the atrocity, investigators say.The claims are backed by testimony from a British expert and by tests at a police forensics lab in Zurich.Documentary-maker Bill Cran and his lead investigator George Thomson, a former Scottish police officer, are re-examining the 1988 bombing and later court case for a forthcoming film. (...)The circuit board was linked to Swiss electronics firm Mebo, but it is claimed fresh forensic scrutiny has established the fragment did not match the Mebo boards.It also appears the fragment was from a type of circuit-board not patented until 1991.The British expert, who has asked not to be named but was interviewed for Cran’s film, said the fragment contained traces of copper foil, while the older Mebo timers sold to Libya did not.He said the technique of adding foil coating to circuit boards only emerged at the end of the 1980s and was not patented until 1991.The fragment of circuit board was said to match those made my Mebo and sold only to Libya and East Germany no later than 1986. (...)Dr Jim Swire, 82, spokesman for the UK relatives among the 270 who died on December 21, 1988, said: ‘This evidence underlines that PT35b did not come from boards made by Mebo and sold to Libya. 'We need a full public inquiry to explore this and to deliver truth and justice before it’s too late for those of us who have the right to know why our loved ones died.’[RB: An article headlined Doubts over Lockerbie bomb timer fragment appears in today's edition of The Times. It reads in part:]A fragment of circuit board linked to Mebo, a Swiss electronics company, used to convict the late Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi for the bombing, does not match the relevant Mebo boards and was probably made after the tragedy on December 21, 1988. (...)Since the trial verdict in 2001 and a failed first appeal, fresh scrutiny has established that, contrary to what the court was told, the fragment did not match the Mebo boards sold to Libya.A British expert claims that the fragment also appeared to be from a type of board that was not patented until 1991. The expert, who we have been asked not to name but who has recorded an interview for the documentary [by film maker Bill Cran], said that the fragment contained traces of copper foil, while the Mebo timers sold to Libya did not.The fragment of circuit board was said to match those made by Mebo and sold only to Libya and East Germany no later than 1986.Edwin Bollier, Mebo’s co-founder, has also secured new evidence after winning the legal right to obtain government files on his company. They suggest that a named member of the Swiss secret services visited Mebo in 1989 and took away a modern circuit board he passed on to US investigators.The fragment, known as PT35b, was entered as evidence in October 1990, and later that month the CIA went to Mebo and secured a packet of circuit boards of the type sold to Libya.Mr Thomson said: “Somehow, the Americans knew 16 months or so before the fragment was found to send a local agent to Mebo to secure a circuit board. You have to wonder whether the investigation was already following a prepared script.”The Swiss documents also confirmed that the police forensic lab in Zurich had concluded: “The fragment used as evidence in the Lockerbie trial does not match the timers made by Mebo.”

1 comment:

Since the fragment was verifiably in the hands of the Scottish police by the end of January 1990 and being examined by scientists at Strathclyde uni the following month, there's something seriously wrong with this allegation. (Not to mention that the photograph showing the fragment that was taken in May 1989 seems to be genuine and genuinely taken that month.)

We do know the fragment doesn't match the timers made by Thüring (I reserve judgement about whether Mebo themselves might have made it, I think it's possible they did) so why can't people concentrate on that solid fact rather than flying into fantasy-land with allegations that simply can't be possible given the known facts of the case?

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